The Underexposed Chef
For those of you who have watched Jamie Oliver's Naked Chef, you would certainly be familiar with the hunger pangs this show leaves you to suffer with after each episode. At least for me, the seemingly effortless way in which he is able to churn out those delectable treats leaves me in awe and at the same time, a tinch of skepticism as to how much editing was made to make it appear so.
Incidentally, I'm not a very good chef. The last time I tried to prove myself when my talented home econs partner was absent from class, I presented a plate of over-fried wrinkly little banana fritters for grading. Needless to say, she still brings that incident up even till today with a laugh because those bananas pulled our grades down pretty significantly haha! Born to a big family of amazing cooks and with a younger brother who is a lil cuckoo over cooking, it makes me appear like a useless daughter who only knows how to eat. haha. Not that I mind that, coz I'm always well fed that way. But when I'm going to spend the next 4 years in a foreign land where Asian food's not going to be served at my fancy, I'm forced to learn how to cook! And that's what I've been trying to do the past few weeks...
I have a book specially to record all my precious family receipes! So far, I've 8 receipes in it and I hope to compile more with time. haha. Though I must admit that my receipes are getting more and more hmmm, succinct.
The first one on Hakka Pan fried Pancake had 5 steps.
Then the second wanton dumplings had 4.
Followed by Claypot Vegetables with 2.
As for the rest, I kept them simple, just like Jamie Oliver:
1. Mix all the ingredients together!
I hope I survive this intensive training! :o Well, to commemorate the first proper dish I managed to cook today:
Steamed chicken with mushroom!!
Anyone with hunger pangs now? :p It's not bad, really!
Here's something I got from a former teacher's blog. I thought it was meaningful; wish it comes as a song though, then I can sing it now and then!
Everybody’s free (to wear sunscreen) – Mary Schmich
Ladies and gentlemen, of the class of '97:
Wear sunscreen.If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.
The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.
I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth.
Oh, never mind.
You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded.
But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.
You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future.
Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum.
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts.
Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy.
Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind.
The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive.
Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life.
The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't.
Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can.
Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it.
It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance - even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander.
You, too, will get old.
And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.Don't expect anyone else to support you.
Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse.
But you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.
Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.
On a random note, I've got a new pet!
It's called Birdie. How uncreative! But it's easy to remember la, haha. This bird (I think it's the same one every time ) visits the plant in front of my house door every 3 months, when it will build a nest for herself and her soon-to-hatch tiny eggs.
See her sleek beak sticking out? Oh the photo is inverted, sorry lazy to flip. ( in case you were thinking her amazing nest is gravity-defying) :p
It's always interesting to watch what happens during the various pre and post hatching episodes.
It's amazing how fast she builds the nest, with dried grass, twigs etc
Even how amazing how it can fit 4 birds after hatching!
This time, the nest she built was super huge! like a bird mansion!
But we discovered she only managed to deliver one egg.
One! compared to her usual 4!
She must have overestimated haha.
Cant wait for the egg to hatch so I feed Birdie JR! :D
Back from Penang!
That was last night. Let me digress to something which happened more recently. I just returned from the evening market with my Dad. Argh, we were like two lost sheep there haha. I think my mum will get a rude shock when comes home from work to see all the junk we bought. heh I can already hear my maid shrieking randomly while rummaging through the goods as I type now. Just a few seconds ago, she walked up to me waving a mini bitter guard, saying " you banyak pandai hor!!? "I could only stare at her innocently :D
Anyway, I was waiting at the fish stall and saw something really strange. This woman was holding fishes under her nose and sniffing away. Hmm, I don't remember my mum teaching me to test a fish's freshness by smelling their gills :/ I must have been staring at her for pretty long, long enough for me to start hallucinating..
I thought I saw her head morph into one of a shark's... hmmm blood, yummy..sniff sniff...
I felt momentarily nauseous. The other sights around me didnt help either- fish guts and blood spilling everywhere, scales flying around like confetti. At that instant I thought of another experience which has haunted me since I was a child. I can still vividly remember what I saw, it was too gruesome to be forgettable. A lady was squating on the floor. She grabbed those amphibians and started whacking them mercilessly against a pole in front of her. For a moment she looked like she was almost in a trance. Then came the skinning. It was too much for me to bear and I ran to find my mummy. I think the market can be a pretty dark place :(
Too bad there're so many carnivores out there, myself included. haha
Speaking about food, let's talk about Penang! I really like that island. It's so culturally rich, blessed with both mountains and the sea, plus really really good food! Well, I shall not get to excited about the food, leave it for later. So I was there to learn from my speech therapist Aunt! I think it was really enriching and enjoyable observing what her at work, especially the cute kids who unfortunately suffer from a myriad of speech difficulties.
This is taken from the exact spot which I'll sit and watch, trying to stay quiet. I love the decor and cheery feel about her "office". No wonder the kids are usually eager to recieve therapy!
I decided to warm up to some of the toys since I'll probably be playing them alot with the kids in future. Haha.
I found many interesting things in my aunt's office. Including the CD above, titled "Speechercise"! This CD is super amusing, it contains songs to help exercise the tongue, " Tongue Pushups" etc. We got to try the songs out with a kid who had to strengthen his general jaw and cheek muscles.
It went like this:
Let's do a kiss!
Now smile!
Kiss!
Smile!
Kiss!
kiss smile kiss smile kiss smile kiss smile kiss smile kiss smile!
and it went faster and faster and faster.
Poor kid, I was qt afraid he'll end up with permanently cramped cheek muscles. I was trying so hard not to laugh as I watched him following the song all the way, with a straight face. haha.
On day 2 we went to a nice hilltop restaurant for dinner with my local aunts and uncles! The ambience was really great.
I think my family made up a majority of the restaurant's crowd! haha
Nevertheless, I think pple who visit Penang should still stick to Hawker Food. Every nook and cranny, I guarentee something special that will stimulate your taste buds! My dad ate so much that my mum and I got a lil paranoid about potential skyrocketing blood pressure. On one night, he ate dinner, Mutton soup after that, PLUS durians AND wine! 0.o
I wanted to donate some bile to him after that.
So 4 days whizzed past and I was back in Singapore on Sunday night to watch The Dim Sum Dollies with buddies Chieh and HZ.
Pam Ooi entertained with her super amusing facial expressions, Emma Yong was a foxy comedian, Selena Tan was prosperous with humour and vocals and Hossan Leong was the sexiest. haha. It was a BLAST! Super funny. Loved how they danced around topics of Singapore's history with such quirky yet intelligent humour!
During the interval, three of us took this hiding at a corner. Got stopped by this security person coz she thought we sneaky ppl wanted to use the forbidden exit :/ yea, I'm qt a patriotic half singaporean!!!
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Ok this is a really random photo. But I just thought about how these two pals have been so important to me all these years, all the stupid stuff we did together and this photo just flashed past my mind. Very act cute hor? :D
Today, I went out with GP! It was nice catching up after such a long time (: and i got to find out more about her applications and preparation for UK! It felt good to know that we'll still be somewhat close even after all these years and not separated by half a globe! I cant believe that 14 years passed since we knew each other,we've grown so much!
Spot the difference!! The picture below was taken during our kindergarden sports meet!haha.
I think this really is testament of how friendship can withstand the test of time (:
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Oh I managed to find Hilltop (my kindergarden) alumni group on Facebook! It was so funny how people were reminiscing about our teachers and the funky annual concerts we put in so much effort to prepare!
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Back to my nostalgic note, I was talking to GP this afternoon about our future plans after uni, whether we may stay back and work etc. This reminded me of a conversation I had with my parents a few weeks back.. For some reason, we were discussing about whether longevity genes existed in our family, then it turned out to be a somewhat subtle talk about death. Out of the blue, my dad said that he will give himselft about 15 more living years. It suddenly struck me, that after I graduate, that will add up to around 5 years...that leaves not much time. Of course, I tried to convince myself overwise...
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The matter-of-fact way in which he said it made me cry so hard inside.
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Well, I guess this is just a fact of life, death. I'm not being morbid, just reflective. It helps me to cherish the people and things around me, do the things I want to do.
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"'Everybody knows they're going to die, but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently,' Morrie said. 'So we kid ourselves about death,' I (Mitch) said. 'Yes, but there's a better approach. To know you're going to die and be prepared for it at any time. That's better. That way you can be actually be more involved in your life while you're living. . . Every day, have a little bird on your shoulder that asks, 'Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?... The truth is, Mitch, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live... Most of us walk around as if we're sleepwalking. We really don't experience the world fully because we're half asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do... Learn how to die, and you learn how to live.'"
-- Tuesdays with Morrie
We spent 2hrs plus there and the staff gladly refilled our cups now and then! That's what I call good customer service heh. Not to forget the many cheesy, over-enthusiastic smiles a particular waiter kept flashing :p
Jiayin must have been so shocked by the bill she forgot to produce her vouchers which would offer 20% discount!! JIAYIN!! haha, it's ok, save it for next time!! :D
That's the beauty of not being in school uniform, we can do stupid stuff without caring about IMAGE! Guess who are behind the animals!:D
We stopped for a nice shot! Photo stolen from Geejaywhy! :p
